Burger Queen

I made some yummy homemade burgers this week, it’s always so perfect when you have left overs but not really sure what to do with them. Turning them into burgers is always the way to go! Enjoy!

Sweet potato burger

This burger taste so sweet!

Ingredients:

4 sweet potatoes medium sized cut up in cubes (size doesn’t matter so much as you’re going to blend them)

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup tamari

Optional: add a few normal potatoes to the mix

Method:

Preheat the oven on 180 degrees.

Grease an oven dish with some oil and add the sweet potatoes. The next step is to give the sweet potatoes a nice bath in the olive oil and tamari.

Place in the oven for 40 minutes.

After that let them cool off a little and get a big mixing bowl, put the sweet potato in the bowl and blend with a hand blender, not super smooth as you still need a certain consistency to make burgers.

When that’s done the next step is to add rolled oats, they are basically the glue holding it all together. You can use gluten free oats if you prefer to not use gluten.

Now start mixing it all up, get in there with your hands! Two things, wash your hands first (of course) but also make sure the mixture is cool enough so you don’t burn your hands. Roll the mixture into balls first and then flatten them.

Last step: fry the burgers in some oil. I like using coconut oil for this, make sure to flip them and get them equally brown on both sides. Serve on a bed of rice with some yummy tofu ricotta cheese gopal vegan cheese on top.

Black bean burger

The process is very similar to the sweet potato one.

Ingredients

4 cups of black beans (this can of course also be any other beans)

1/4 cup of olive oil

1 tbsp of salt

1 tbsp of sweet paprika

1 tsp chilli powder

Method:

Soak and cook the beans first. Making sure they are nice and soft to work with. Not super soft but just enough so you can blend them.

In a large mixing bowl mix the beans, oil and spices together. Then with a hand blender blend it all together. Not too thin, still thick enough to make into burgers.

When that’s done the next step is to add rolled oats, they are basically the glue holding it all together. You can use gluten free oats if you prefer to not use gluten.

Now start mixing it all up, get in there with your hands! Two things, wash your hands first (of course) but also make sure the mixture is cool enough so you don’t burn your hands. Roll the mixture into balls first and then flatten them.

Last step: fry the burgers in some oil. I like using coconut oil for this, make sure to flip them and get them equally brown on both sides.

So it was World Vegan Day last Sunday. Something we of course do not take lightly. So enjoy our celebratory weekend recipes, for the animals, always! Pelos animais, sempre!

WORLD VEGAN DAY Deluxe BURGERS:

So last year i cooked a 10 course vegan dinner for 65 people in Sydney, it felt rather strange to not have such a big event this year. Well, the day itself is always a big event and really what an important day it is, but we also believe that it should be world vegan day everyday. With us it certainly is. My dear friend Luis celebrated his second vegan anniversary and that for me was a great excuse to have a vegan burger fest, so here you go…… have one too!

Spinach/rice burger

Ingredients:

2/3 cups cooked rice (can be any rice)

4 cups of washed, drained and cooked fresh spinach

2 onions diced

1 tbsp turmeric

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tbsp sweet paprika

2 cups rolled oats

1 tbsp oregano (dried)

1 tbsp basil (dried)

1 tbsp thyme (dried)

Salt by taste

Method: Start with boiling the rice and spinach first, so you can just keep that aside when it’s done. Then start with frying the onions in a medium saucepan in some oil and add the spices (turmeric, garam masala and sweet paprika) then also set that aside.

Blend the spinach in a food processor, not too thin, just enough so you can still have some texture when you start adding the spinach together with the rice. So do this, in a big bowl add the rice, spinach and rolled oats together and start mixing that, then add the onion mixture, and very last add the oregano, basil and thyme and salt by taste. Mix very well and then start rolling balls from the mixture (about 6 to 9 inch) then when you have done that, you flatten the balls into burgers.

You can put them in the oven first and then fry them for an extra crunchy taste, or straight into the pan to fry is fine too.

Serve with some salad and DONE!

Mushroom/olive/tofu burger

I really love this one!

Ingredients

1/2 cup olives (can be any olives and just take the pits out)

3 cups of mushrooms (again can be any mushrooms, i used white mushrooms)

200 gr scrambled hard tofu

2 onions diced

3/4 cloves garlic

1 tbsp turmeric

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tbsp sweet paprika

2 cups rolled oats

Start with frying the onions and garlic in a medium saucepan in some oil and add the spices (turmeric, garam masala and sweet paprika) then add the mushrooms in add a little bit more oil, mushrooms really suck oil up a lot, fry well together. Meanwhile blend the olives together in a paste. Set that aside.

Then blend the mushrooms and onion mixture together in a food blender, blend well but again not to too thin, then add the olive paste, blend well. Then get a big bowl and add this mixture and the rolled oats together, mix well, so the mixture becomes a little thicker, this is why you use oats, use gluten free oats or tapioca flour for a gluten free option. Then when you have done that, roll balls from the mixture which you then flatten into burgers.

These burgers are really soft and a little runny in a way but that also makes them taste so delicious, these burgers aren’t hard and that is totally okay, just make sure they don’t fall apart when you fry them. And serving them in love heart shape gives you extra karma points 🙂

1/2 cup shitake mushrooms (if you buy them dry then soak them in hot water before frying them)

2 cups breadcrumbs

1 cup corn flour (optional)

Method:

Start with frying the onion and the garlic together in some oil (use olive) then add the herbs, fry it all up together and when the onions and garlic turned gold then add the mushrooms, white first, then swiss brown and last the shitake, fry them all together for 5/10 minutes, meanwhile take the pits out of the olives and throw the olives in a blender so you get a real paste, when you have done that, get a large mixing bowl and out the paste in there. Next step: take your frying pan of the stove and start mixing all of the content of that into a food processor, you might need to do this in two steps until really smooth, then when you have done that place this mixture in the large mixing bowl with the olive paste, then add the breadcrumbs and mix it real well, if the mix is too runny still use more breadcrumbs or add some corn flower (not more then a cup)

Last step, make balls of the mixture and then make the balls into love heart shapes, fry them up and DONE…. go spread the love!